Development and Management of a Visitor Attraction - Coursework Example

Development and Management of a Visitor Attraction Development and Management of a Visitor AttractionIntroduction A visitor attraction is s place that has appealing features to draw visitors from varying walks of life into it. Additionally, the tourist attraction site normally has cultural value and unique ambience that visitors admire and therefore visit to relax and enjoy. Examples of cultural value include extinct animals including like white elephants and other cultural artefacts. The visitor attraction site under discussion in this paper is located in the Lake District in the North Western part of England, Cumbria. The attraction site currently serves as England’s largest National park and is within the jurisdiction of England. The location of the national park comprises of other features that include lake, falls, and mountains which offer beautiful scenery especially for hikers and mountain climbers. National contests have already identified the place for climbing and other contest activities. With these and other feature, Lake District remains a major tourist attraction for foreign and local tourists. The discussion in this paper sets out to discuss two main elements of developing a visitor attraction site. First, the processes and potential issues involved in the development of visitor attractions and secondly, the sustainable visitor management techniques needed to sustain the tourist attraction site. The discussion of processes and potential issues, and sustainable management needed to run the tourist attraction will be discussed in reference to Greenwich Museum in London which has previously been visited and the Lake District national park which is England’s largest while the intended tourist attraction will be at North Western part of England, Cumbria. 1. Two issues affecting the development of the visitor attraction Numerous factors affect the development of a visitor attraction site including location like catchment areas, relationships with stakeholders, and sources of funding. The two discussed factors are location and relationships with stakeholders. According to Goeldner & Ritchie (2009), the location of a visitors attraction sites influences factors such as transportation, hospitality and related services, weather, entertainment and other factors. The Lake District Directory (2014) highlights that, the area’s geography comprises of snow-capped mountains, natural lakes, and stunning waterfalls as well as grassy valleys. One issue affecting this geography is the increasing pressure on the Lake District due to increased visitors to the countryside and development of more attraction sites resulting densely populated catchment area and use of more land for construction other than beautiful scenery. As a result, land previously used for attractive beautiful scenery is converted for commercial and residential houses. Sources of funding are also an issue in the development of a tourist attraction site. According to Swarbrooke (2002, p. 148), financial viability of the attraction site has to be put into consideration. This is because, attractions are expected to pay back their capital expenditure and generate a profit or surplus on their yearly running costs. For both the Greenwich Museum and the Lake District National Park, the capital costs are partly paid by external grants and subsidies that cover the running costs. However, for private attraction sites, healthy return on capital reflects attractions viability. Discussion of the processes involved in planning and development of a visitor attraction To understand the process of planning and development of a visitors’ attraction site, feasibility study is crucial (Swarbrooke, 2002, pp. 119-123) especially since the attraction site is aimed at improving the area within England and a tool of economic development. Lake District’s Cumbria is a great tourist attraction area with numerous visitors’ attractions like Windermere Lake which is the largest in England, the visitors’ holiday resorts in the area, national parks and other entertainment and recreation activities. Understanding the suitability of the area for resort development will affect the time needed for development, the size of the development depending factors like land availability and are land use regulations. Additionally, a feasibility study would provide information on financial viability, refine original issues, analyse operational issues like labour, and offer relevant market information (Swarbrooke, 2002, p. 142). Ticketing and communication Since visitors are not necessarily Cumbria residents, the ticketing and communication can be enhanced using digital media. Digital media could be inform of a website that uses a versatile and visually appealing approach to give visitors a user friendly and easy navigation experience. The website functions include providing an upfront promotional space, clear information about the venue of the resort, commercial and marketing platform where members can register for membership and book tickets online, and a venue for feedback collection from members and guest visitors to the site. Community involvement According to Swarbrooke (2002), attraction sites locations with high population density are considered to be very successful compared to those located in low catchment areas. In the Lake District, Cumbria is highly populated given that the presence of employment opportunities. The community will also be involved as domestic visitors especially through frequently organized events in the resort to encourage repeat visitors and interested people (Fyall, et al., 2011, pp. 165-170). Comparison of visitor management strategies at Greenwich museum with Lake District resort national park According to (Middleton, et al., 2009) one of the visitor management strategies is marketing which in the recent past has taken the centre state in visitors’ management. Marketing is crucial given the dramatic changes in the structures of economies, changing consumer behaviour and market nature, privatization of formerly state owned institutions in order to be more responsive to customer needs, and pressure to reduce reliance on subsidies (Swarbrokem, 1999). Marketing a tourist attraction site can be in form traditional methods or modern digital media method. However, strategic marketing approach must consider objectives of profit making, expanding market share, and obtaining satisfactory return on investment. At Greenwich Museum, temporary exhibition as are common are common way of stimulating curiosity in all users while triggering learning and discovery. Temporary exhibitions are held regularly, at least once in a month each time involving a different theme. To achieve sustainable management, the museum has classified visitors needs based on different themes like art, textile, water, and historic events like titanic. This way, the themes in each temporary event attracts people interested in a given theme as well as other visitors. Having themes repeated with new added aspects regularly encourages return customers. At Greenwich Museum, there are numerous events and exhibitions all year round. Compared to Lake District marketing does not involves organizing activities based on market segmentation. According to Swarbrooke & Homer (1999, pp. 239-240), marketing therefore involves destination marketing, activity holidays, general business tourism, long holidays, and leisure and tourism targeting of variant market segments. For all these approaches to marketing the target market could range from families, young people, business people, children, and the elderly. Examples of visitors’ attraction sites include Lack District National Museum and Windermere amongst others. For effective marketing, Greenwich Museum and the Lake District National park each have a marketing team responsible for visitor’s attraction interior. Besides building on the uniqueness in the existing product the two marketing strategies focus on marketing newly introduced or improved versions of the existing products. Management technique used in Greenwich Museum and in Lake District national park Long term sustainability is described by Hall & Lew (2009) as creating visiting experience that compels has the visitor anticipating the a return visit, having the visitor get to the attraction site as fast and easily as possible in the most secure route, and leaving the visitor with sensational memories both good and bad as well as photos and souvenirs. To achieve these goals on the visitor, the attraction site must ensure that their product is accessible, offering a variety of activities, and ensure the pricing strategy used incorporates most needs within the target market. Security is one of the important factors in the sustainability of visitor attraction both at Greenwich Museum and Lake District National Park. According to National Maritime Museum (2013, pp. 23-26) Greenwich Museum utilizes IT infrastructure in its on-site control room to ensure that all museum sites are monitored even after detailed security checks at the museum’s entrance. The control room involves CCTV viewing to emphasize on site surveillance. There are also other risk management and responses and an effective internal control system. Since events are held on the basis of a selected theme, each theme is has additional feature prior to repeat this acts as the marketing tool to have interested groups visit the museum and gain more insight. Additionally, the prices are determined in such a way that they are considerate of age, gender, and social economic state. The use of different themes results to the formulation of results to reduction of overcrowding. Unlike the Museum, Lake District National park finds it hard to reduced overcrowding since tourist segmentation is highly dependent on seasons. As result, the best way to reduce overcrowding remains to be provision of assorted activities including mountain climbing, Fell hikes, boating and cruises, conference facilities, and birds watching amongst other activities. Such assortment works in reduction of visitor numbers at overcrowded attractions since visitors at any given time have a variety of other activities to choose from. Another effective way to reduce overcrowding includes time limits for different activities. For instance, high demand activities are given maximum time allowance of 1 hour per session. Although, the reduction of the number of visitors during peak time may be a viable option, the using assorted activities ensures that there is something for everyone in the most safe and secure way. The technique of digital media that involves online booking ensures that visitors’ capacity is not exceeded per day as a way of avoiding overcrowding. This technique is used in the national park would be crucial in ensuring that visitors have the optimum entertainment and recreation for the best experience in the park. To ensure sustainability of visitor management, involves having a marketing team that is keen in analyzing market trends, monitoring competition and anticipating changes while overcoming the impacts of changes (Royal Museums Greenwich, 2014). Conclusion The discussion in this paper has focused on the development and management of a tourist attraction site in the Lake District, England. In order to understand various development and management concepts, the paper has used credible information from two visitors’ attraction sites including Greenwich Museum in London and the Lake District National Park. The Lake District resort area is part of England located in the North West of the country. The district comprises of Cumbria County and is characterized by beautiful scenery and experiencing increased number of visitors both domestic and international. The paper has discussed several elements of the development process and potential issues, and evaluated sustainable visitor management techniques like online booking to reduce overcrowding in the park. Reference list Fyall, A., Garrod, B., Leask, A. & Wanhill, S., 2011. Managing Visitor Attractions. 2 ed. London: Taylor & Francis. Goeldner, C. R. & Ritchie, B. J. R., 2009. Tourism principles, practices and philosophies. 11 ed. New Jersey: John Willey & Sons. Hall, C. M. & Lew, A. A., 2009. Understanding Tourism Impacts. illustrated ed. Abingdon: Routledge. Lake District Directory, 2014. Geography and Geology. [Online] Available at: http://www.lakedistrictdirectory.co.uk/geography-and-geology-c267.html [Accessed 6 June 2014]. Middleton, V., Fyall, A. M. M. & Ranchhod, A., 2009. Marketing in Travel and Tourism. Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann. National Maritime Museum, 2013. 2013 Annual report and Accounts, United Kingdom: TheStationery Office Limited. Royal Museums Greenwich, 2014. Marketing at the Museum. [Online] Available at: http://www.rmg.co.uk/schools/national-maritime-museum/resources/secondary/travel-tourism/marketing [Accessed 6 June 2014]. Swarbrokem, J., 1999. Sustainable Tuorism Management. illustrated ed. Wallingford: CABI. Swarbrooke, J., 2002. The Developmemt and Management of Visitor Atractions. 2 ed. Boston: Butterworth Heinemann. Swarbrooke, J. & Homer, S., 1999. Consumer Behavior in Tourism. Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann. Read More